The Merry Little Cocker 
A DOG THAT LIVES UP TO THE HONORABLE TRADITIONS OF HIS RACE—WHERE HE 
CAME FROM—WHAT HE USED TO BE AND WHAT HE IS—THE POINTS TO JUDGE HIM BY 
Williams Haynes 
Author of "The Neglected Spaniel," "Practical Dog Keeping,” Etc. 
Y birth and breeding, the spaniels are 
the aristocrats of all dogs. Nobody 
ever saw a spaniel picking an uncer¬ 
tain living out of the alley's ash cans. 
No spaniel ever slipped through the 
kitchen door to disappear completely, 
despite anxious searches and an ad¬ 
vertisement in the lost-and-found 
column, sneaking home three or four 
days later, his coat full of mud and 
burrs and with a suspicious-looking 
cut over his left eye. Never did the 
butcher’s boy succeed in making 
friends with a spaniel, nor do the 
gutter pups and the fruit huckster’s 
mongrel greet him as a long-lost 
brother. A spaniel is always sure of 
: he recognizes all social distinctions, 
whether human or canine, with nicety ; his manners are perfect: 
he is kind and true, faithful and unafraid—he is, indeed, the born 
gentleman. 
The cocker spaniel lives up to the traditions of his race. He 
is, however, the gay gallant of the family. He is not so sedate 
and dignified as that splendid old gentleman of the old school, 
his uncle, the Clumber spaniel; nor is he so frivolous and foppish 
as that favorite of the Court and the drawing-room, his cousin, 
the toy spaniel. He is the wit of spaniels, the spark of the coffee 
houses, always a perfect gentleman, but also the man-about-town, 
the thorough sportsman. Not for nothing has he for a century 
and a half been called the merry little cocker. 
The aristocracy of the spaniels is well founded. Among the 
voluminous records in their family charter chest are letters patent 
from good King George; affectionate little notes from Charles I, 
written in his own flourishing hand; a great commission counter¬ 
signed by the first Duke of Northumberland, son of Oueen Eliza¬ 
beth’s favorite, Leicester; a genealogy drawn up in quaint 
mediaeval Latin by Doctor Johannes Cains, of Cambridge Uni¬ 
versity; and way down at the bottom, aged parchments in French 
and Spanish. Ancient lineage and proud position held through¬ 
out long centuries have given the spaniels what only birth and 
breeding can give, and have been a great factor in making them 
the sort of dogs they are. 
The exact origin of the spaniel race is lost in antiquity. There 
is, however, a persistent rumor to the effect that they came from 
the East, through Greece, to Spain. Possibly so; we cannot be 
positive. It is certain, however, that our spaniels, including the 
cocker spaniel, came from Spain, through France, to England. 
Out of the original Spanish stock every country in Europe has 
made spaniel breeds specially adapted to their own needs. The 
continental varieties, well defined and attractive though some of 
them are, are generally unknown, even by name, to Americans, 
nor do they have anything to do with the cocker, who is thor¬ 
oughly an English product. 
The first English mention of the spaniels is in the Duke of 
He started five centuries ago as a hunting dog. To-day, though a house pet, he is no 
less adaptable to that field 
himself and his position 
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